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Homepage Clinical Care
The Metabolic Treatment
A Guide to
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Since 1971, according to official figures, over $1 trillion has been spent on conventional cancer research and treatment in the U.S. The current cost is at least $110 billion a year—over 10% of all U.S. medical expenditures and 2% of the entire Gross National Product. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—these unprecedented costs, the cancer establishment remains largely closed to most truly independent, innovative treatments. All this money, and still no cure! The reason: You can’t cure symptoms. Cancer is a symptom of improper diet, lifestyle, and toxic exposure. And there is more of a vested interest in keeping people sick than there is in keeping people well. What would happen if cancer disappeared? I will tell you. The greatest financial vacuum in our medical system would wither and die. We have created a monster! In our inherent "wisdom," what we have created is a Frankenstein. The single statistic that most clearly highlights the forces at play was noted by June Goodfield in her 1975 book The Siege of Cancer: More people make a living from conventional cancer research and treatment than die from the disease on an annual basis. Also, the average cancer patient spends in excess of $100,000 treating his or her disease conventionally. There is thus a tremendous vested interest in maintaining the medical, scientific- and economic-status quo. Why is this? First, we’ve ignored the answers already under our noses. Second, we’ve tried to circumvent nature, rather than return to it. Science has this obsessive fascination with dissection; it takes something complete, isolates a part, and tries to present it as a whole. Never is this more evident than in our current approach to pharmaceuticals as a panacea. Although one third of pharmaceuticals are synthetic versions of herbs, they are isolated components that lack a full spectrum of protective plant-derived chemicals (termed "phytochemicals") . All this has lead us away from true health. We all feel it! Our health is being robbed from us and then marketed back to us in convenient medical boxes and pills. And then when our organs fail from lack of proper nutrition, we are told they need to be removed. Isn’t this ironic? Or perhaps, it is evil? The pharmaceutical industry tells us we need this medicine for the common headache, and that medicine for common diarrhea . . . There is no such things as a "common" illness! The body migrates naturally toward health. We should listen to our bodies and common sense, rather than those who stand to gain from our illnesses. This is the message championed by "holistic" and "functional medicine" practitioners. The words "cancer" and "politics" are inextricably intertwined. As Samuel Epstein, M.D., author of The Politics of Cancer noted, "The politics of cancer is more complex than the science of cancer." He also wrote, "If we are to effectively prevent cancer, we will have to change our diets and our smoking habits; we’re also going to have to clean up our environment, change industrial processes, and do a number of things that will be difficult, expensive, time-consuming and intrusive." In addition, Bailar added that "A change [to prevention] at NCI [National Cancer Institute] would mean a massive disruption in ideas and momentum in the research community and in the businesses that support that research community." Despite advances in medical science, the U.S. still leads the world in rates of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. The incidences of these diseases have increased, although death from them is declining, indicative that heroic medicine and surgery are keeping people alive today that would have died in yesterday’s medical era. However, we've made few strides toward dealing with the true cause of modern disease and in combating chronic illness. Here are some more simple truths about cancer: The Truth is that there has never been a disease that some people haven't recovered from. Spontaneous healing does happen! The body does heal itself! God does heal! It is never too late to provide the body the nutrients and the environment it needs to maximize health. Chronic diseases, such as cancer, are mostly preventable. The chief causes of cancer are use of tobacco and inappropriate diets. The American Cancer Institute Stated, "One third of cancer deaths each year are due to poor dietary practices." Some studies suggest that 90% of all human cancers are environmentally induced, 30% to 40% of these by diet. That is why a diet of whole foods with proper supplementation is so important. Science hasn’t been able to recreate nature! Part of the reason for this is that many scientists don’t even use nature as a blueprint or consider the majesty of existence as being superior. Instead, they feel they can improve upon nature—the attitude being that nature is inferior and incomplete. It is this attitude that has robbed us of our vital resources, and poisoned and starved us in the name of progress. As for me, I already see the end of the road where that progress is taking us . . . And I don’t see the utopia so often promised. Instead, I see death and destruction. And the only chance we have to save ourselves is to realize this truth and to recognize the sovereignty of creation and blueprints of evolution. Let nature be your chemist! That is the simple philosophy of natural health care. "Science" claims superiority; however, in their arrogance and ignorance, scientists in general have set the stage for global annihilation. In fact, the many dietary changes during the past 10,000 years have outpaced our ability to genetically adapt to them. "That the vast majority of our genes are ancient in origin means that nearly all of our biochemistry and physiology is fine tuned to conditions of life that existed before 10,000 years ago. Looked at in another way, 100,000 generations of people were hunter-gatherers (lived on whole foods), 500 generations have depended on agriculture, only 10 generations have lived since the start of the industrial age, and only two generations have grown up with highly processed fast foods." Technologies, computers, fax machines—all the wonders of modern science . . . They’re all great. However, we shouldn’t abandon simple truths—truths that have genetically become commensurate with our survival. Put another way, our genes aren't dependent on fax machines, computers, fast food, etc . . . For survival, however, we are dependent on proper nutrition and a broad spectrum of plant-derived nutrients (called "phytonutrients") found in whole foods. Sometimes, the forces that be try to complicate the truth so that we might become dependent on them for answers; however, it must be remembered that ". . . we must not assume that science and truth march straight ahead and that the present is the beneficiary of the accumulated knowledge of the past. Because, in many instances—such as the field of health and nutrition—the past is full of deception and factual manipulation, resulting in the inheritance of a tarnished view of scientific progress." We can clearly see the superiority of sound nutrition as a basis of health. It is arrogance that denies the inherent wisdom of nature, exalting ‘man-made’ ideas above the forces of creation that have inherently guided us throughout the ages. There is a saying, "The eyes cannot see what the mind does not." Most scientists haven’t discovered these truths, although they’ve been self-evident all along! We must use our good sense when evaluating the minutia of information that constantly floods and bombards us with ever-conflicting tales of wonder. Science is changing, but the truths in nature have been constant and remain a source of vitality to those who’ll return to their ‘roots’. Here is a simple truth: Simple dietary changes equal profound changes in our health. For example, the combination of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, moderately exercising, and eating one serving of soy per day, can possibly reduce your chance of getting cancer by 80%. We must respect the individuality of each person. None of us have the exact same fingerprints. None of us truly look exactly alike. All of us are biologically unique! Roger Williams, Ph.D. was the first to propose that there is more diversity in our chemical individuality than in the individuality of our outward features. Let’s respect and embrace that in awe and wonder, rather than try to canalize us into biochemical molds that insult the genesis and diversity of creation. Typically, allopathic medicine doesn’t embrace the individuality of the patient and the polymorphic expression of disease. Rather, allopathic medicine places the disease, rather than the person, at the center of its focus. Personal assessment and individually-tailored treatment protocols underlie "functional medicine"—the approach to maximizing health and minimizing disease. For questions or comments about this column, write to Dr. Calvino by e-mail. |
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